1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a paper inverting apparatus that inverts the front and back of paper by transporting the paper through a paper inverting path that inverts the front and back of the paper.
2. Related Art
Electronic devices such as printers provided with a dual-side automatic print function, scanners, facsimiles, and the like provided with dual-side automatic reading functions, and so on are known. Such electronic devices are provided with paper inverting apparatuses for automatically inverting the front and back of recording paper, an original document, or the like. To be more specific, using a printer provided with a dual-side automatic print function as an example, after recording has been executed on the front surface of a piece of recording paper, the recording paper passes through a paper inverting path, thereby inverting the front and back of the recording paper; the recording paper is then once again transported to a recording execution unit, and recording is carried out on the back surface of the recording paper (for example, see JP-A-2006-298605).
An apparatus in which the paper temporarily protrudes from a discharge opening during the process of transporting the paper to the paper inverting path is known as an example of a general paper inverting apparatus. Such a paper inverting apparatus has an advantage in that it is comparatively easy to reduce the size of an electronic device that is provided with that paper inverting apparatus. However, with such a paper inverting apparatus, there is a disadvantage in that when the paper temporarily protrudes from the discharge opening, there is a risk that a user will mistake that paper as paper that has been discharged and touch that paper with his/her hand.
Meanwhile, an apparatus in which the paper does not protrude to the exterior of the apparatus at all during the process for transporting the paper to the paper inverting path is also known as an example of a general paper inverting apparatus. Such a paper inverting apparatus is advantageous in terms of safety because there is no risk that a user will touch the paper during the process for transporting the paper to the paper inverting path. However, such a paper inverting apparatus has a disadvantage in that it increases the size of the electronic device in which that paper inverting apparatus is provided.
Finally, an electronic device provided with a paper inverting apparatus that includes both a paper inverting path in which the paper temporarily protrudes from a discharge opening during the process for inverting the front and back of the paper and a paper inverting path in which the paper does not protrude, and is configured so as to switch between the paper inverting paths based on the length of the paper, is known (for example, see JP-A-2006-298605).
In recent years, there is an increased demand, in electronic devices such as printers, scanners, facsimiles, and the like, to further increase the speed at which recording is executed, documents are read, and so on. This applies to printers provided with a dual-side automatic print function, scanners, facsimiles, and the like provided with dual-side automatic reading functions, and so on as well. However, it is necessary to set the path length of a circulation path in the paper inverting path of the paper inverting apparatus in accordance with the length of the maximum size of the paper that the electronic device can handle. Accordingly, the length of the circulation path is greater than necessary with respect to paper of smaller sizes. In other words, paper of a size that is smaller than the maximum size of the paper that can be handled by the electronic device undergoes front to back inversion by passing through a circulation path whose path length is longer than necessary, and thus the front to back inversion requires more time than is necessary. As a result, past paper inverting apparatuses are problematic in that the throughput in electronic devices such as printers provided with a dual-side automatic print function, scanners, facsimiles, and so on provided with dual-side automatic reading functions, drops with respect to paper of a size that is smaller than the maximum size of the paper that the electronic device can handle.